The Law of Attraction [Chris Beck]

Chapter 4

"Bygones," Alice muttered to herself as she stepped into her black pants; they were form fitting but exceptionally comfortable. 

Most of what she packed was moveable, breathable, and what NASA approved of. A grey shirt with the NASA logo over the left breast fit her nicely. She ran her hands through her damp hair. It was another morning, and it had been three mornings since Beck had said he'd let bygones be bygones, as if her not calling had been such a terrible thing for him. She rolled her eyes at the memory, reminded once again of a nice conversation turned sour. It was too early in the trip for things like this to stir up. She was either going to have to tell Lewis so that it could get sorted out, or face Beck and get everything on the table. She knew the latter was really the only option, because she knew she would be working closely with Beck, and if Lewis had even an inkling that there was something uncomfortable between them, it would just be a nuisance for everyone. 

"What are you muttering about?" Johanssen leaned over her bunk from behind her laptop; she had headphones in, but still heard Alice say something.

Alice hadn't even noticed the petite astronaut there and jumped a bit when she spoke. Sighing, she shook her head. "Nothing to get anyone else involved with."

"Is our only therapist losing it already?" She joked playfully, closing her laptop and getting out from her bunk.

"No." Alice let out a sigh. "Really, Beth, I appreciate your concern but it's nothing."

"We've got a long time to go on this trip." Beth stood up, sliding her shoes on. "Secrets aren't going to remain that for long."

Alice knew she was right. "Well if I feel like I'm going to burst, I'll come to you first."

"Good, because you go to Watney and he might let it slip to Martinez who might let it slip... Well, you know, it's a small crew. Word travels."

"I can only imagine and I'm sure I'll see soon enough." All Alice wanted was the history between her and Beck to remain silent, at least until this mission was over. The last thing she wanted was a title on her head when she got back to NASA; as much as she hated to admit it, they would likely frown upon her and not Beck for the whole thing. She decided that the best thing was to make amends with Beck, talk to him about it, and make sure that they were on the same page. But first, she had a few things to tend to with Watney, her partner for the day.

"And that's basically how you would fix this." Watney gestured with his hands to the grid of wires and mechanics. It had malfunctioned, nothing serious happened, but alarms went off and Watney and Alice were sent to address it. He had tools and she had tools; he had her do certain aspects of it, showing her how to do each task one step at a time. By the end of it, she knew that she wouldn't be able to do it on her own if it were to happen again, but by the time she was alone on the Hermes in a couple hundred days she would be able to figure these sorts of issues out. Of course she hoped nothing would come up, but that was a naïve way of thinking. Already Alice had learned so much on this trip.